Excerpt from Popular Readings in Science As the plan best fitted for securing the foregoing object, the narrative form has been adopted in the preparation of the volume. With the View of inducing readers to interest them selves in Scientific subjects, prominence has been given to the results which have been arrived at in the course of Scientific discovery rather than to the methods by which the results have been reached. At the same time due care has been taken to give, where necessary, such explanations of elementary principles as will enable the reader to obtain a general grasp of the subjects under consideration. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.